Librado Rivera

Librado Rivera (1864–1932) was a Mexican anarchist revolutionary, journalist and politician. He was one of the founders and leading figures of the Mexican Liberal Party (PLM). Rivera joined the Mexican liberal movement in the 1890s, as part of a circle led by Camilo Arriaga. He soon became affiliated with the brothers Ricardo and Enrique Flores Magón, with whom he fled to the United States to escape repression by the Porfiriato. From St. Louis, he published Regeneración and organized the PLM, with a view to carrying out a cross-border raid and igniting an insurrection against the Mexican state. Following an arrest and a close brush with deportation, Rivera went underground in Texas, where he organized clandestine cells of revolutionaries. He was eventually tracked down to Los Angeles, arrested, and convicted of violating the Neutrality Act. He was released from prison at the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, during which he supported the Magonista rebellion of 1911. His anarchist principles led him to oppose the new government of Francisco Madero, which crushed the rebellion and marginalised the PLM's influence in Mexico. Rivera and the Flores Magón brothers soon alienated many of their allies, and after calling for an insurrection against anti-Mexican violence in Texas, they were convicted of violating the Espionage Act. Upon Rivera's release from prison, he was deported back to Mexico, where he died.